that of Milton Friedman's Chicago School NeoConservative'Free' market policies,where endless deregulation and privatization
generates massive growthfor private business,
at a cost often of life and liberty to the less financially well endowed.

Analyzing in an objective manner
the methods employed and their achievements
over more than 30 years,
the economists practice could be summarized
in the Orwellian doublethinkist views that ;
War is Peace,
Death Is Life &
Greed is the Greatest Good.

THIS BOOKShould possibly be compulsory reading
for Anyone who wants to Live.

Revealing how Milton Friedman's Monetarist Economic theories ofNeoLiberalism / NeoConservatism,echoing the m.o. of Electro Shock Therapyin its early years
which sought to erase the ailing personality all together and then
impose a new one on the blank slate,
has similarly sought initially to exploit and latterly to bring about and then exploit conditions of economic disaster in various nations.
Acting at the point similar to that when an individual looses all comprehension of who they are or what they should do,the practitioners of Economic Shock Doctrine strike at the very moment when a nation is most disoriented and in need of assistance or support.
This is apparently the best time in response to their plea for help from the International Monetary Fund andWorld Bank
(originally Humane and Humanitarian bodies protecting world society from the rise of any destructive economic forces)
for financial aid to repair disaster damage,
they provide such aid with strict conditions that the countries who asked
will open their markets,
deregulate their economies, sell of their assets and
surrender their present and long term futures to the global stock-markets.

Should they meet resistance to this wholesale colonial capitalization and economic genocide of formerly independent nation states,
This is the time to send in the Army, initially the national army but later as privatization at home (USA) began to pick up speed, an outsourced privatized army from mercenaries around the world was employed....

Stripping states of their democratically elected powers and their public utilities which were formerly held and employed on behalf of the nations people to further their economic independence and national standards of living, the ceaseless, heartless rise of the Machiavellian Monetarists devastatingly portrays the soulless and insatiable consequences of applying materialist economic values to humanist and environmental concerns.

Whilst the book does conclude with some hopeful outlooks
as the Latin Americas now recover
from their abuse under the economic Shock Therapy doctrines
and reject any further involvement with the IMF, WB or similar,
practicing an almost Scandinavian sort of Democratic Socialism
or Third Way,
as they helpfully share and supportively trade their resources with their neighbors outside and independent of the global stock market.

I would also recommended that
whilst somewhat out of date in its details and simpler in its portrayal,
in its general arguments
Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful;
Economics as if People Mattered
is an excellent alternative approach to the economics
of a world worth living in.
Schumacher provides a series of
more inclusive, compassionate economic and business examples,
which would protect
individuals as well as the earth's-eco and biosphere's.Such examples would simultaneously provide lives and societies with
meaning and value,whilst ensuring that our common heritage
the sacred Earth,of which we may one-day be honored to consider ourselves Guardians,would flourish in perpetuity.By Stone and Star,Celestial Elf ~

Friday, 12 August 2011

Made my brother an Ash Wand from a piece of uncut Ash
from the wild and ancient woods of Cumbria ~

Magic Wand of Ash

The Ash appears in Norse myth as Yggdrasil, the World-Ash or Tree of Life from which all the worlds spring. It is the pathway or bridge by means of which
the wizard may travel among the worlds. Poseidon, Odin, and Thor each wielded a spear of Ash, symbolic of an irresistible magical Will and invincible protection. The Greek goddess Nemesis carried an ash wand
as symbol of divine justice. With it, she ensures that fortune is shared among all people
and not only by the few. In Celtic mythology,
the Ash was sacred as a tree of enchantment
for its ability to span the Three Worlds of Manifestation of Past, Present and Future.The Ash Wand's Magical Properties: The Ash wand is especially to be used in healing for promoting brain power, aiding in communication, intelligence, wisdom.Use this wood to remove mental blockages and to assist in word use and understanding. It is the wand of the poet, and scholar. It promotes spiritual love and health. It protects against unwanted change. And it brings balance to the mind. Use also for protection from drowning and to enhance the skills of arts and crafts, justice and weather magick. Ash Wands have both Male and Female aspects;the Female side being connected to Life Giving Waters,
Birth, Healing and Protection the Male side as the Center of the Universe
and
represented by the Wand or Spear. The Druid's Oath“We swear by Peace and Love to standHeart to heart and hand in hand.Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now,Confirming this, our sacred vow.” (repeat three times)

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Whilst some have disputed Graves historical inaccuracies in The White Goddess, im not reading this for its historical account, but rather for its mytho-poetical inventiveness and inspiration, of which I would say that it delivers handsomely. pdf here.
The attempt to reconcile the Ancient Hebrew, Greek and Celtic civilizations with an Aegean/Tuath De Danaan Diaspora is fascinating and demands that the reader have a fairly wide background in cultural and mythological studies.

Speculating on the Cad Goddeu, The Battle of the Trees, a medieval Welsh poem from the Book of Taliesin, that the trees that fought in the battle in which each tree had a meaning and significance of its own. Graves argues that the original poet had concealed Druidic secrets about an older matriarchal Celtic religion for fear of censure from Christian authorities and that the 'battle' was probably not physical but rather a struggle of wits and scholarship. They did this he claims by employing the secret sign language called Ogham, in this case the Tree Ogham in which each tree holds a representative symbol, sound, meaning, set of mythologies and etc..
The particular poem and its meanings is he claims further concealed by the device of being 'pied' or mixed up with a further four poems, only those in the know would be able to correctly untangle and decipher their original order.

However and due to the excessive overloading of references and origins, at times it seems that Graves has almost become one of his ancient Cambrian Awenyddion' the magical minstrel poets who disguised their wisdom under the pretence of being possessed by spirits, as they did not deliver the answer to what is required in any connected manner..."but the person who skillfully observes them will find after many preambles...and incoherent though ornamented speeches, the desired explanation conveyed in some turn of word"
He could not have described his own method more perfectly, persist and you will find his meanings become clearer.

Nevertheless, despite the erratic, over-rich and often obscure prose, his reconciliation of the Tree Ogham Alphabet with the calender of the Year, the stations of both sun and moon, is an inspiring and potentially convincing demonstration of how the ancient mythographers (may have)created meaning and managed the seasonal and social rituals of their times.
Reaching further, his exposition and extrapolation of Biblical and earlier mythologies and their themes is remarkable.

I value and recommend this work to any more serious and patient reader (who is preferably well read mytho-historically) for its hidden gems, its tremendous scope and its imaginative-inspirational qualities.